On Wednesday, Congress voted 223 to 207 to censure and strip Paul Gosar (R-AZ) of his committee assignments. A but two House Republicans, Liz Cheney(R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) voted along with Democrats. Gosar was in the news recently after posting an anime video of himself killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and wielding swords at a portrayal of President Biden.
Gosar exhibited classic denial to the outrage, calling the video a symbolic depiction of “a policy battle regarding amnesty.” The video, and his party’s refusal to rebuke it, reflects that the new GOP has morphed into a radicalized party. Gosar’s pal Nick Fuentes, brushed off criticism of the video claiming it was just a joke.
The Republican party is now almost totally unrecognizable.
It is a party which cannot bring itself to condemn violence against minorities and the LGBTQ+ community, or even the brutal killing of a black man who happened to be jogging in a white neighborhood. It is the party that has no qualms about rolling back women’s reproductive rights, or cheering on the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teenager who brought an automatic rifle to a BLM protest, killing two and wounding another. It is the party that views the January 6th insurrection as some sort of garden party, rather than a blatant attempt to overthrow our democracy.
Everywhere I turn, another GOP lawmaker is spewing insults, and hateful rhetoric at Democrats and “left-wingers” that would make a grandmother blush. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) recently referred to Ilhan Omar (D-MN) as the “jihad squad member from Minnesota.” Last year, Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA) suggested that Muslims do not belong in government, that black people “are held slaves to the Democratic Party,” and called George Soros (a Jewish Democratic megadonor) a Nazi. She also stated that if she were a black woman, she would be “proud” to see a Confederate monument because it symbolizes the progress our nation has made since the Civil War.
Earlier this month during an Election Night event, Yorktown GOP leader, Tom Pomposello, posted on his Facebook page a racist rant, calling councilman Vishnu Patel a “sand n—-r.” And let’s not forget the “former guy’s” long history of discrimination against minorities in New York City, as well as his countless racist and misogynist comments even when president.
Death threats, insults, and racial rants against Democratic lawmakers, healthcare workers, election workers, and journalists have become common-place now. Death threats against Democratic members of Congress have doubled since 2017. We have parents getting violent over mask mandates at school board meetings, and airline attendants getting clocked by passengers who refuse to mask up, and a new conspiracy theory about the COVID-19 vaccine pops up virtually every week.
Although public servants and those in the public eye may be more susceptible to public insults, these signs should not be ignored or swept under the rug. It is obvious that we are seeing a systemic use of fear and intimidation in U.S. politics. A tactic that is successful in cementing fealty from Republicans and right-wing extremist groups in order to reinforce the authoritarian turn that defined Donald Trump’s presidency.
Jason Stanley, a professor of philosophy at Yale University, has written several books on the subject of fascism. In many of his writings, he lists three major ingredients of a fascist society: A nostalgia for a mythic past (Make America Great Again), the notion of “us” and “them” (Republicans vs. Democrats, whites vs. blacks, whites vs. immigrants). The third ingredient is a blatant attack on the truth (misinformation, conspiracy theories, and “alternative facts”). Just as Gosar denied the violent message of his anime video, so too do GOP lawmakers deny the violence that erupted on January 6. It’s as if the new Republican Party basks in lies and bullying, relishing the browbeating and demeaning of Democrats and minorities.
The Gosar video is not a joke and its message is loud and clear. Stanley commented that the post legitimizes “political violence explicitly by saying America is under mortal threat.” He went on the add, “He (Gosar) places killing AOC in a framework that legitimates killing her. She’s an enemy officer of an invading army. And white America is what’s being invaded.”